Board of Trustees and Advisory Board Members

Board of Trustees

Judith C. Hochman, Ed.D
Founder and Secretary

Dr. Judith C. Hochman is the creator of the Hochman Method and founder of The Writing Revolution, a non-profit organization dedicated to training and supporting teachers and school leaders in implementing this explicit set of evidence-based strategies for teaching writing. Dr. Hochman served as the Head of The Windward School in White Plains, New York, a nationally renowned independent school focused on teaching students with learning disabilities. Read More

She is the founder of the Windward Teacher Training Institute and a former Superintendent of the Greenburgh Graham Union Free School District in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. In addition, Dr. Hochman lectures, presents workshops and gives courses for educational organizations, colleges and universities, as well as public and independent schools throughout the United States. She is on the Advisory Board of Everyone Reads, a national advocacy organization for dyslexia and related learning disabilities. She received the New York Branch Award from the International Dyslexia Association. The Reading Reform Foundation presented Dr. Hochman with the Leona D. and Phillip J. Spector Leadership Award. Dr. Hochman is the author of The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing In All Subjects and Grades (along with co-author Natalie Wexler), Teaching Basic Writing Skills a chapter entitled “Composition: Expressive Language and Writing” in the publication Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, and numerous articles.

Kathleen Abrahamson

Kathleen has been active in the field of education her entire professional life. She taught fifth grade in upstate New York for three years, followed by a teaching position in a middle school in Newark, New Jersey. Read More

While raising three children, she was a volunteer tutor in the public schools, helping children learn to read. This experience led her to the field of learning disabilities and special education. After attending graduate school, Kathy worked in a school for emotionally disturbed children. Following four years in that capacity, she joined the staff at The Windward School and has been there for 30 years as a reading specialist and tutor. At Windward, she has seen the tremendous impact the writing strategies have for teachers and students.

Lisa Amato
Chair

Lisa is an active volunteer, serving a variety of education and health organizations over the past 20 years. She is currently a trustee on the KIPP New Jersey board, a high performing charter network in Newark, NJ. Read More

She has been a dedicated advocate for the importance of KIPP Through College which provides support in high school, one-on-one college counseling, alumni advising and career readiness services. Lisa also serves on the BRAVEN Newark Board, Partners for Health Foundation Board, Montclair, NJ and the Montclair Art Museum Board, Montclair, NJ.

Lisa is a member of the New York Museum of Modern Art Contemporary Arts Council.

Deirdre DeAngelis

Deirdre has been the principal of New Dorp High School in Staten Island, NY since 1999. Prior to that, she brought Telecommunications High School in Brooklyn, NY into the public eye when, as assistant principal of special education, she spearheaded a successful improvement for special education students. Read More

Since 2005, she has led dramatic transformation of New Dorp through several innovations, including restructuring into smaller learning communities; implementing strategic inquiry throughout the building; and implementing the Hochman Method of writing instruction across the content areas. Between 2005 and 2011, New Dorp’s graduation rates have risen from 54% to 79%, and they are still rising. The improvements at New Dorp have been recognized both nationally and internationally and Deidre is the recipient of several educational awards. Most recently, Deidre was a 2017 recipient of the Sloane Award for Public Service in part due to her successful implementation of The Hochman Method at New Dorp High School.

Chris Stern Hyman, Esq.

Chris is a health care lawyer and mediator. In 1998 she formed Medical Mediation Group LLC, which provides mediation services to resolve disputes in health care and conducts trainings. Read More

She is a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Panel of Mediators and a Special Master mediating appeals pending before the NY Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department. She currently serves as Secretary of Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, Inc., Secretary of the Fund for Public Health in New York, and is a Vice President of Win: Breaking the Cycle of Homelessness for Women and their Children.

Andrew S. Komaroff

Andrew is the Chief Operating Officer of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. He joined the firm in 2001. Andy’s responsibilities include oversight of the firm’s client coverage and distribution channels, as well as information technology and operations functions. Read More

Andy also served as the interim Chief Financial Officer immediately following the firm’s employee-led buyout in 2009. Prior to joining the firm, Andy was a principal at Ripplewood Holdings, a New York and Tokyo-based private equity firm, and a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. Andy is a Member of Stanford Associates, selected by the University for top one percent of alumni volunteers. Andy received a B.A. from Williams College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Arnold J. Levine
Treasurer

Arnold was a member of Proskauer LLC’s Executive Committee for nine years and a former Co-chair of the Corporate Department. He established and served as Chairman of the Proskauer Institute, which provides a formal training program for all newly arriving Proskauer attorneys each year.  Read More

During his 50-year career at Proskauer, his principle areas of practice included mergers and acquisitions, private equity funds, corporate governance, tax sheltered investments, private placements, partnerships, LLCs and joint ventures, early stage investments, and financial disclosure and accountants liability. He received his B.A. from Cornell University and his L.L.B from Columbia Law School, where he was an Editor of the Columbia Law Review.

Martin Oppenheimer

Martin J. Oppenheimer is a former Chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department, with a national reputation for representing employers in labor relations matters.

As spokesman in labor negotiations, attorney in arbitration and administrative proceedings, and counselor on all aspects of personnel and labor problems, he has represented, among his commercial clients, Time Warner, United Parcel Service, Amerada Hess, Coca-Cola Enterprises, and many of the leading United States shipping companies.Read More

Martin has acted as counsel to many national and regional Taft-Hartley pension and benefit plans.

In addition to his work in the industrial and commercial sectors, Martin has represented a wide range of not-for-profit organizations, including Columbia University, Yale University, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera.

Martin is actively engaged in the New York City philanthropic community. He served as Chair of the Board of City Center of Music and Drama, Inc., is a Director Emeritus of the Board of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and a member of the boards of the 92nd Street YMHA, The Emelin Theatre, and New York Road Runners, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia.

Mr. Oppenheimer is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law School and was a Fulbright Scholar at Goethe University in Frankfurt.

Ivonne Gonzalez Ruggles

Ivonne Gonzalez Ruggles is an experienced senior executive, entrepreneur, and non-profit board member. After building a global cosmetics company and successfully selling it to one of the fastest growing retailers in the USA, Ivonne knows what it takes to build an organization, navigate uncertainty and make strategic decisions.Read More

Prior to her entrepreneurial venture, Ivonne held positions in Fortune 500 companies, investment banking, and management consulting over her 25-year career in business. She holds a global perspective from living in Europe and from leading business transactions in England, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, China, and the UAE.

She earned an MBA in Finance from the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin. She enjoys spending time with her family and helping the community in the fields of business, education and the arts.

Rohan Srinivasan

Rohan was most recently a Business Analyst at Alphabet Inc., where he was responsible for operations planning and analytics for the Google Fiber project. Read More

Prior to joining the Fiber team he was a Financial Analyst on Emerging Products at Google, where he was responsible for building financial models and vetting opportunities in the consumer payments space. Rohan graduated from New York University’s Stern School of Business with a B.S in Finance and Economics.

Advisory Board

Natalie Wexler

Natalie Wexler is the author of The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System — and How to Fix It (Avery 2019). She is a senior contributor on education at Forbes.com and is the co-author, with Judith C. Hochman, of The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades (Jossey-Bass, 2017). Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other publications. Read More

She lives in Washington, D.C., where she has been a volunteer reading and writing tutor in high-poverty schools.

Neil Braun

Neil is the Dean of Pace University’s Lubin School of Business. Previously, Mr. Braun held the position of Chief Executive Officer of The Carbon Neutral Company and Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of The GreenLife Organization. He also sits on the Share our Strength and Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Board of Directors.

David Coleman

David is the ninth president of the College Board and has been described as the “architect” of the Common Core. He was recognized as one of Time magazine’s “11 Educational Activists for 2011” and one of the NewSchools Venture Fund Change Agents of the Year for 2012. Read More

He received a Rhodes Scholarship and studied English literature at Oxford University and classical philosophy at Cambridge University. He attended Yale University and public schools in New York City.

Esther Klein Friedman

Dr. Klein Friedman has served New York City students since the mid 1970s as a teacher of special education and reading in elementary, middle and high schools; staff development trainer; principal; director of literacy and social studies; regional director of academic intervention services and local instructional superintendent; director of secondary school reform, director of academic intervention services, director of a Supplemental Educational Services program internal to the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE); interim superintendent; and currently as executive director of literacy and academic intervention services at NYCDOE. Read More

Her doctoral work focused on reading acquisition in struggling students. Dr. Klein Friedman’s professional interests include exploration into the challenges of and solutions for supporting achievement of students in urban schools, particularly in the area of literacy.

Doug Lemov

Doug is the Managing Director of the Uncommon Schools’ Teach Like a Champion team. He is the author of the international bestseller Teach Like a Champion, a study of high performing urban teachers to make their methods concrete and replicable. Read More

It has sold nearly 1,000,000 copies and been translated into eight languages. Doug is also the author of the revised and upgraded Teach Like a Champion 2.0, Practice Perfect (co-written with Uncommon colleagues Erica Woolway and Katie Yezzi) and Reading Reconsidered: Rigorous Literacy Instruction in the Common Core Era (co-written with Uncommon colleagues Erica Woolway and Colleen Driggs). Prior to his work at Uncommon Schools, Doug was the Vice President for Accountability at the State University of New York’s Charter Schools Institute and a founder and principal of the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School in Boston. He has a B.A. from Hamilton College, an M.A. from Indiana University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Jillian Neubauer

Jillian Neubauer is a former business executive with extensive experience as a general manager and in strategic planning and new business development. Most recently, Jillian served as Director of Finance and Operations for the University Alliance for Life-Long Learning, an online learning venture of Princeton, Yale, Oxford, and Stanford Universities. Read More

Prior to that she held a number of positions with The Walt Disney Company, ultimately rising to Vice President and General Manager for ABC.com, Oprah.com, Oscar.com, and Disney’s Family.com. Prior to Disney, Jillian worked at Bain & Company as a strategy consultant. Jillian serves on the Board of Directors of The Stephen Gaynor School and the Children’s Museum of the Arts, as well as the Children’s Board of the Columbia University Medical Center. Jillian received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School with second year honors and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Operations Research, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University. Jillian and her husband, Larry, live in New York City with their three daughters.

Shalinee Sharma

Shalinee Sharma is CEO and co-founder of Zearn, a nonprofit curriculum publisher. Under her leadership, Zearn created Zearn Math, a top-rated K-5 curriculum and classroom model that supports daily differentiation and engagement so all children can love learning math. Read More

Zearn Math is ‘green-lighted’ by EdReports and is used by millions of students across the US. In addition to curricular materials, Zearn also offers professional development to support teachers with building deep content expertise. Before co-founding Zearn and co-creating Zearn Math, Shalinee spent more than a decade at Bain & Company where she led work for clients in the tech, consumer products, financial services and education. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA from Brown University. The child of refugees, Shalinee has always been passionate about universal access to an excellent education. She spends her free time outdoors with her twin sons and husband.

Megan Young Wiese

Megan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University, where she trained to teach in the public school system. Upon graduation, Megan worked as a teacher in the People’s Republic of China while residing in Hangzhou. Read More

Megan’s corporate experience includes working as a Vice President of Marketing at The O’Connor Group, an independent investment firm, and as a Senior Vice President at ERE Yarmouth. Currently, Megan is active on a variety of trustee and advisory boards, including those of Amazon Watch, Essex Farm Institute, Human Rights In China, Reading Reform Foundation, Stephen Gaynor School, and The Writing Revolution. She resides in New York City with her husband and their three children.